TWO SOVIET OFFICERS FLEE TO
AUSTRIA, LANDING BOMBER AT U.S. ARMY BASE

They Refuse to Return Home When Requested
to Do So by Chief-Sergeant Goes Back- 'Voice of America' Called Factor

New York Times October 21, 1948
By ALBION ROSS, New York Times

Vienna, Oct. 20--Two Soviet air force lieutenants deserted their post in the Ukraine and crash-landed their two engine bomber Oct. 9 at Camp McCauley airport (Horsching) near Linz the
United States headquarters disclosed today.

The Russian bomber in which the Soviet officers fled to the west. The plane overshot the runway at Horsching field and crashed.The plane was later returned to the Russians

The Army announcement said the two lieutenants and a sergeant had held a nine-hour talk yesterday with
representatives of the Soviet commander in Austria, Gen. Vladimir Kurasov.
The sergeant, who had been informed the fliers were leaving Russia only
after the plane was in the air, decided to return to Russia. The two lieutenants refused to go.

The United States command informed Soviet officials last week that it was prepared to return the plane
anytime but that it would not use force to compel the fliers to go to the
Soviet zone.

Soviet mechanics went to the United States airport yesterday, dismantled the plane with the aid of the
United States equipment and took it to the Soviet zone.

The plane had certain modern equipment that, it is said, the Western Allies were not aware the Russians
possessed. Reports as yet unverified also said that the two men had brought with them documents and other
information of considerable interest.

Investigation of the circumstances surrounding the landing revealed that the two officers had taken the
plane during a training flight with the intention of leaving the Soviet
Union. They said they had been planning the flight for a year.

The two air officers said "Voice of America" broadcasts had been the inspiration The Associated Press
reported. They said "quite a number of the men at their base had listened to the broadcasts secretly."

They evidently seized the moment when they were stationed at the Rumanian frontier only a few
hundred-flight miles from the frontier of the United States zone to make their getaway. Their maps, however, covered the area only
up to the western frontier of the Soviet zone.

Though they had intended to fly to Munich or some other city in southern Germany they decided to land at
Camp McCauley field only a few miles from the Soviet zone boundary. It was understood they feared they would
lose their way if they attempted to go farther without maps.

Though the United States command did not immediately inform the Russians, six days later General Kurasov
showed he had full information of the incident. The negotiations then began.

Both the Untied States and the Soviet officials took great care during the negotiations to prevent
information regarding the matter from reaching the public to avoid having the
incident become a question of prestige.

Both were candidates for membership in the Communist party during past years. Lt. Pirogov explained that officers of the army practically had
to become candidates for membership for party membership.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> They themselves "did not implement
their candidacy," Lt. Pirogov said because their personal ideals ideology were
not in agreement with the Communist Ideology." He was asked if other Russians agreed with him in his
rejection of communism. He said:
"I think that 70 per cent feel the way I do."

Lt. Barsof added that the elections in the Soviet Union were not free. He said that voters had been taken to the polls practically at the point
of a gun.

Returning soldiers returning from occupied areas are forbidden to discuss any of the good part
there, Lt. Pirogov added.

Both men refused to discuss detailed family matters in the interest of their relatives.
Lt. Pirogov was understood to have left a bride he married three and a half months ago, and Lt. Barsof is believed to have
left a wife and a child.

Asked what impressed him the most since his arrival at the United States airbase here, where he has been
staying now for ten days. Lt. Pirogov said it was the fact that all Americans had asked him questions in regard to ways of helping him to set up his new life."

L/R: Lt. Melvin Farber, Capt. Robert Carpenter, Pirogov, Barsof, and Lt. Henry Young. All three officers are based at Tulln

United States officers, who have been with them at the base where they were housed and treated as visiting
foreign officers, said the thing that seemed to have impressed them most was
the modern bath. They never had seen modern bathroom fixtures and were delighted as children with a new toy, these
officers added.

BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

BARSOF, Anatalya Porfirarich, pilot of the aircraft - born on 24 April 1917.
Studied at a technical school specializing in factory management. Enrolled in a civilian flying school in 1938 and graduated as a Senior Sergeant in 1839. Served in the air reserve unit
until 1943, when he was placed on active duty with a long range reconnaissance
unit stationed in Moscow. He was a candidate for the Communist Party but never admitted as a member. His escape was motivated by "Voice of
America" and by the influence of his navigator. (NOTE by Horace Ray
- After a couple of years, Barsof became disillusioned with the life here and
went back to Russia.Probably got his just due when he went back.)

PIROGOV,Piotr Afanasnievic, Navigator of the aircraft - born 23 December 1920 in Reskaga, Oblast
Tambov - His escape was motivated by the "Voice of America" and by the fact that he was "fed up" with the Soviet army life. He stated that as an officer, he lived "like a king". But he resented the treatment accorded the enlisted
men. Pirogov was a schoolteacher before he was drafted into the army late in 1939. He attended several aircraft schools and was graduated as a lieutenant
junior grade, at which time he was recalled to active duty. (NOTE by Horace Ray - Pirogov died in February 1987. He met a woman sometime after he defected and was happily married until
he died.His wife lives in Virginia. Pirogov wrote a book "Why I Escaped", the story of Peter Pirogov. The book has been out of
print for years, but Horace has a copy.